FC Barcelona and the United States; a love affair begins!

FC Barcelona will head to the USA in June to play three games as part of their preparations for the 2017/2018 season. Though it has been two years since Barça played on American soil, it is far from uncharted territory for the club.

Tom Carter

03:33PM Thursday 30 Mar

30 Mar 17

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Barça´s story in the US began way back in 1937! The Blaugranes travelled to New York during the Spanish civil war, winning each of their four games in fourteen days. The tour included fixtures against the Brooklyn Hispano, New York and two ´best XI´ sides from the United States and the Hebrew community.

Despite the success of these games, it wasn´t until 1969 that FC Barcelona would continue a love-affair of their own. In New York and Chicago, FCB took on Juventus in a two-legged friendly that resulted in an aggregate 2-4 win for the Blaugranes. The brief tour concluded with a match against the NASL All-Stars in New York where just under 4,000 fans saw Barça pick up another win, scoring 3 with no return.

Barça were again State-side in 1984 to take part in the short-lived Trans-Atlantic Challenge Cup, a friendly tournament hosted by the New York Cosmos. Though Barça would lose 3-5 to their hosts, the game memorably featured Diego Maradona, thrilling the 38,000 rain-soaked spectators on an artificial pitch at Giants Stadium, New York. A follow up game against Brazilian side Fluminense in the Big Apple would be FC Barcelona´s last match in the US for nearly twenty years, a period in which the NASL ceased to exist after its collapse the same year as Barça´s visit. It wouldn´t be until 2003, on the 10th anniversary of the inception of the MLS that the Blaugranes would play in the United States again.